Trying to keep projects moving during a viral pandemic and partial construction freeze is no small task, and project teams are finding new ways to keep things on schedule when site visits and office meetings are no longer viable. BIM-enabled virtual-reality setups haves been around for years, but tools once seen as marketing gimmicks and expensive toys have since matured into usable mediums for design and review.
“These days it’s hard to get everyone into one room—we’re limited to small groups standing 6 feet apart,” says Andy Leek, vice president of technology and innovation at St. Louis-based general contractor Paric Corp. “But working in VR, if someone brings up a design issue we can load up a model and get in there.”